Establishment of Understorey Vegetation for Rehabilitation of Bauxite-mined Areas in the Jarrah Forest of Western Australia

The establishment of vegetation (during the first growing season) was investigated in rehabilitated bauxite pits in the northern jarrah forest of Western Australia. The effects of different fertilizer, seed applications and pre-mining floral composition were investigated. ation of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer together did not affect plant density but increased plant cover and species richness, when compared with applying only phosphorus fertilizer. asting seed of a wide range of understorey species produced a mean density of 6·8 plants m-2, a mean cover of 18·6% and a mean species richness of 44·5 species 80-2, These were all significantly higher than in plots where only a non-legume mix was applied or where no seed had been applied. l of 168 non-weed plant species was recorded after 9 months in the nine rehabilitated pits in a total sampled area of 4320 m2 (as 120 4-m2 quadrats at each pit). Of these, 23% (39 species) originated mainly from broadcast seed while 77% (129 species) originated mainly from the replaced topsoil or by recruitment from the surrounding jarrah forest. lly, there was a higher species similarity within the same sites pre- and post-mining than between different pre- and post-mining sites, illustrating that the pre-mining forest vegetation makes a strong contribution to the post-mining vegetation by way of the seed in the returned soil.